Jane & Kim's Overseas Adventure 2011: All roads lead to Rome

Went into Fiuggi (old part of town) on Tuesday night for dinner. To be honest the whole town looks old but they have sections that they call different things and this was the higher area that they call the historical old part. Anyway it was a nice little restaurant that was recommended and we both had a delicious pasta. We arrived home and a little while later when I was outside I called Kim out cause there were fireworks going off in the town that we could see from our apartment. We thought it was about time for them to welcome us but better late than never I guess!!

Wednesday morning we headed off to the stazione to catch the train into Rome which is about an hour away. We have found it a bit easier in Rome as most of the signage is in English as well as Italian and you can usually find someone who speaks it. Don’t get me wrong we have managed but it is a whole lot easier when you don’t have to play charades!! We bought a 48 hour pass on the 110 which is a hop on hop off bus that takes you to 11 stops all of which are famous landmarks. The first stop was the Colloseum which we decided to pay a little bit extra to do a guided tour. This turned out to be a fantastic idea because as with most things here the queues have to be seen to be believed. We jumped ahead of all of that because of the tour. Our guide was Roberto who proved to be invaluable in not only his knowledge but his humour. It is so hard to imagine life back in the day but everything we are noticing is built on such a grand scale. After the Colloseum Roberto handed us over to another guide as part of the same tour who took us further to see the Roman Forum, Palentine Hill, Circus Maximus, etc. etc. She was a Canadian but her knowledge was so good of the history and although not as amusing as Roberto she was great all the same. It did take a little bit longer than we thought though and by the time we’d finished there it was after 1.00pm. We got to the next stop which was St Peter’s Basilica and if we thought the lines were long at the Colloseum we were mistaken. How everyone, young and old, was standing out in the sun for as long as they were was amazing. Digressing for a moment I want to mention the absolutely fabulous weather we have been having, +30 every day. Apparently they are having a late summer here and although it can be rather hot at times (when queuing) we are very happy with it.

Anyway back to St Peter’s. We decided that the queue was way too long so we’d come back on Thursday. We took some photo’s and as we hadn’t eaten since breakfast and it was now 3.00pm we decided to get some lunch. We both went for pizza this time which was nothing like we get at home but it was really tasty. Starting to get a bit later we decided to head back to the bus to get to the main terminal where we could catch our train home and get up at sparrow’s fart tomorrow to hopefully beat the queues at St Peters and finish what we didn’t get around to today. We arrived home at about 7.30, dirty, sweaty, footsore and buggered. After a quick dinner we were in bed by 10.00pm to get ready for an early start tomorrow.

Alarm set for 5.30 we caught the 7.15 treno to Rome and got on the first bus at 8.30 and headed back to St Peter’s Basilica only to find the lines were as long as they were the day before, what the hell do these people camp out overnight!! Getting back to the treno we weren’t 100 % sure of the time it left and as were walking over the overpass I looked up to see Kim running for her life. Apparently she had seen a train coming and thought it was ours and we were going to miss it. As she was descending the metal stairs very noisily the man in front of her looked around with fear on his face for what the hell was coming at him. As the train hurtled through the station and we realised it was an express we started to laugh as did the frightened man. As if the noise Kim made on the overpass wasn’t enough we had now completely drawn attention to ourselves with the hysterical laughter.

Once again a tour guide came up to us promoting their tour of The Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St Peter’s Basilica. We weighed it all up and decided that this would be the best way to go as you cut through the horrendous lines. We headed off with Simon or Simoni who was another great guide breaking it up with some humour and was also very easy on the eye. We went to The Vatican Museum first where we had to go through metal detectors because we were entering another state. Through the vast corridors of the museum were the most magnificent tapestries, statues and wall and ceiling paintings, too hard to describe. This lead us through to the Sistine Chapel where Simon explained the history of the paintings which were by Michelangelo. He told us we weren’t allowed to take photo’s however once he walks away we have 5 minutes to do as we please but should we get caught we were not to mention his name. The place was jam pack and every body seemed to be taking photo’s so we took the opportunity to do the same. Unfortunately for me when I decided to take a photo I had a security man come screaming at me ‘no camera’s no camera’s. Oops, sprung. Promptly put my camera away and went on my merry way.

Simon asked us to meet him at a certain point and when I turned around I couldn’t find Kim. Suddenly I saw her walking passed about 4 people deep, I called out her name but she didn’t turn around due to the earplugs used in the tour. I tried following her but with the crowds as they were and being as short as I am I lost sight of her. I thought she must have gone out the exit and would wait for us there but when I got out the exit I didn’t see her. I looked down the very, very long flight of stairs to see this woman frantically waving her arms all about. I knew it must’ve been Kim who was very thankful that she didn’t have to search through thousands of people to try and find me. From there we jumped the queues again into St Peter’s Basilica. The grandeur and scale of these places is amazing. Neither Kim or I are religious people but were so glad we did the tour. Spectacular.

We finished there at about midday and headed off to finish the sights as best we could. We went to the Spanish Steps, The Trevi Fountain and through a coin in, The Pantheon, Piazza Navona, etc. We caught the 6:17 treno back and didn’t arrive home until just after 8:00pm. Very long day but very satisfying having seen everything we wanted to. It has just turned midnight and I am dead on my feet so I will try and add some more photo’s tomorrow. Ciao for now.